Galen glances up at the belly of Rachel’s abandoned boat. “So now they’ve got Rachel in custody. Make sure to keep an eye out for her when we flood the island. Her cast is going to make it next to impossible for her to swim, in the event that the boat tips.” But we’re really hoping the patrolmen will stay away from the waves. Right now they’re moving in the opposite direction of the island, probably looking for more boats in the area who might be conspiring with Rachel.

“Will do. I think it’s time to go ahead and start, don’t you? We don’t want them to have enough time to make a trip back to shore with her.”

Galen swims to within an inch of my face. His lazy grin sends a thousand butterflies whipping up a tornado in my stomach. “Start what? The rescue, or the rest of our lives together?”

Just the words make my heart jump, let alone the look he gives me when he says it. We haven’t had much time to talk about what all this means for us, but at least I know we can be together. On our own terms, in our own time. Finally. “Both,” I breathe.

“This is not the time to be all mushy,” Rayna calls from below us. “I swear you two are expert time wasters. So inconsiderate.”

Galen winks at me and dives to his sister.

“Wait,” I call to him. He stops. “I just wanted to say, I like your big fin. I think it’s sexy.” Which is the truth. Now it’s more than double the size of any other Syrena. I know he’s self-conscious about it; he thinks it makes him stand out more. What Galen doesn’t realize is that he already stood out. He was already special. This new fin doesn’t change anything. Well, except for making me hotter for him than I already was.

“Really?” Galen says.

I nod and blow him a kiss. By his confused expression, he has no idea what I’m doing. My Syrena human ambassador still has a lot to learn about the intimate details of the human world. And I’ll be happy to assist him with that.

Rayna makes a face as he wraps his arms around her waist. I know she’s nervous, even if she won’t admit it. They’ve only practiced this once on the way here, on a smaller scale. Rayna’s voice is like a tuning fork. At the right level, it’s capable of destruction. After we told Dr. Milligan what happened at the Arena, he said he wouldn’t doubt that her power is sonar based—which means we may attract a different kind of human attention. Rachel said human governments keep track of sonar disturbances.

And since Rayna doesn’t have her Gift completely under control yet, we’re taking a risk by showing up on someone’s radar. But this is the best option we’ve got. We all agreed that she wouldn’t go all out, that she would put just enough force to flood the island. We’re not going for a catastrophic event here. We’re looking to give Jagen and Musa a small advantage. If we can raise the water level enough, they can swim out faster than the humans can catch them.

If they’re still here, that is.

“Ready when you are,” Galen tells his sister.

At this, Rayna opens her big fat mouth and screams. The result is instantaneous and huge. It looks like a wall of sound rushing away from them toward the shallow water. Galen swims faster, clutching his sister in his arms. Together, with the combination of speed and sound, they make their way around the island, producing baby-sized waves at first. When they gain momentum, the waves get bigger, travel faster, and pull some of the shallow water into the deep. I wasn’t there to see Triton destroy Tartessos all those years ago. These waves cannot possibly be as big as Triton’s were. I can only imagine what it would be like to stand on shore and see literal waves of destruction speeding toward you.

It would be incredible. And excessively scary.

Once the waves get into a rhythm, smacking against shore and raising the sea level, it’s time for my Gift to come into play. I circle the island, making a larger ring than Galen and Rayna had made, to stay outside their range of destruction. Thankfully, the waters surrounding Kanton are a seafood buffet waiting to happen. I can definitely see why commercial fishermen would risk their licenses or arrest to get in on this. I find dolphins, whales, sharks, eels, and gigantic tuna. As I pass, I gather the larger fish to my forces. The smaller ones I send out to recruit more help, including some dolphins, since they are best at communicating with one another, and can bring friends in quickly.

“Come with me,” I tell them, just like I did when I gathered my army on the way to the Boundary. “Stay close to shore and watch for humans,” I keep repeating. “When the land becomes water, help the humans stay at the surface.”

Gradually, the deep becomes the shallow and the shallow the deep, as the waves pummel the island. Galen and Rayna keep passing by me in a blur. Soon enough, there is no shore. There is no island. And I begin to see human legs strike the water.

“Go, go, go!” I tell my fish friends. “Guide them to the colorful things floating at the surface.”

At first there are not many. It occurs to me that we could be on the wrong side of the island. I instruct the Trackers to split up, and gauge the need on the opposite side. We find the most humans on the north side, a bit more inland than I’d thought. The Trackers and I supplement the efforts of the dolphins and sharks.

I realize belatedly that sending sharks to the aid of humans is a stupid idea. When one of the men tries to kick a tiger shark in the eye—and how could I blame him?—I tell the sharks to retreat. They’ve done all they can do, and I won’t let them be abused for their efforts.